Capillary flow techniques have been used to determine
the translational
diffusion constant,
D
, of squalene in seven alkanes
and five cyclohexanes. The alkanes are
n
-hexane,
n
-octane,
n
-decane,
n
-dodecane,
n
-tetradecane, 2,2,4,4,6,8,8-heptamethylnonane (isocetane),
and 2,6,10,14-tetramethylpentadecane (pristane). The cyclohexanes
are cyclohexane,
n
-butylcyclohexane,
n
-hexylcyclohexane,
n
-octylcyclohexane, and
n
-dodecylcyclohexane. When combined with published data
in CD
2
Cl
2
, ethyl acetate,
n
-hexadecane, squalane,
n
-octane–squalane
mixtures, and supercritical CO
2
, the 35 diffusion constants
and viscosities, η, vary by factors of ∼230 and ∼500,
respectively. A fit to the modified Stokes–Einstein equation
(MSE,
D
/
T
=
A
SE
/η
p
) gives an average absolute
percentage difference (AAPD) of 7.72% between the experimental and
calculated
D
values where
p
and
A
SE
are constants,
T
is the
absolute temperature, and the AAPD is the average value of (10
2
) (|
D
calcd
–
D
exptl
|/
D
exptl
). Two other
MSE fits using subsets of the 35 diffusion constants may be useful
for (a) estimating the viscosity of the hydrophobic core of lipid
droplets, where squalene is a naturally occurring component, and (b)
providing estimates of the
D
values needed to design
extraction processes by which squalene is obtained from plant oils.
The Wilke–Chang equation also was considered and found to give
larger AAPDs than the corresponding MSE fits.